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Seeking Justice For All ... District Attorney's office seeks fair resolutions for cases

By Rachel Alexander

alexanderr@canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
06/18/2013 09:42:33 PM MDT

Deputy District Attorney Stacey Turner discusses her work prosecuting felony cases in Fremont County District Court. The District Attorney's office represents the interests of the state and victims in the criminal justice system. (Tim Brown / Daily Record)

Editor's note: This is a continuation of the series that began June 10. This series was delayed because of the coverage of the Royal Gorge Fire. Look for Thursday's edition for a feature about public defender Riley Selleck.

In a courtroom, she's one of those arguing on behalf of the people of the state of Colorado.

"I think that I'm a very community-oriented kind of person," said Deputy District Attorney Stacey Turner. "That's just how I was raised. Always did a lot of volunteer work, I did and my parents do. I like to be invested in the community. And to me that's a lot of what being a prosecutor is, doing things that will make the community better."

Turner works along with other attorneys and legal assistants for the elected District Attorney Thom LeDoux to prosecute criminal cases in the 11th Judicial District, which constitutes Fremont, Chaffee, Custer and Park counties.

Turner originally is from Illinois and attended Washington University in St. Louis for undergraduate school and law school at St. Louis University.

"When I was a child, we lived in Colorado for a while," she said. "I've just always loved Colorado and kind of wanted to move back at some point."

She worked in Denver and Colorado Springs before joining the 11th Judicial District Attorney's office in Fremont County.

"In terms of the big picture, our job is to seek justice, to achieve justice in a case," Turner said.

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As a prosecutor, Turner works closely with law enforcement, victims, victims' families, defense attorneys, probation, parole and the Department of Corrections. She said liking people is one of the requirements of being a prosecutor.

"I like putting the pieces of a case together," she said, "especially once you start to do felonies, you get to work with law enforcement more. Working on putting the different parts of the case together and seeing how it all comes together is interesting. I like the analytical part of it."

Prosecuting attorneys often become involved in felony cases before an arrest is made or the case is filed in court.

"We're the advisors to law enforcement and that happens on a daily basis," Turner said.

Much of her day-to-day work involves taking calls from law enforcement and review reports. She said working with law enforcement before cases are filed allows her to give direction of what work may need to be done for a case to move forward.

Once a case is filed by law enforcement, prosecutors review the details to determine, legally, what charges can be filed.

"Really being in court is a very small part of the case," Turner said. "Much more of the case takes place outside of the courtroom."

This involves meeting with victims, talking with defense attorneys about potential plea agreements, continuing to work with law enforcement and preparing cases for hearings and trials.

"That's the bulk of the work that, I guess, the public would not ever see," she said.

Fremont County has two felony divisions, county court and a juvenile court with attorneys from the DA's office for each division. Turner said she has about 40 open felony cases, a count that does not include probation revocations.

"Working as a prosecutor in a small town, you get to know a lot of the people that you're prosecuting. Not just them, but their families," she said. "I think that is very helpful, because that helps you understand what you need to do to address the case. Any time I get a case the goal is what do I need to do so this person doesn't commit another crime?"

Because, as one of two felony prosecutors, Turner handles more than 200 cases a year, most of those cases are settled through plea agreements. Because of the amount of court time each case requires to go to trial, Turner said it would not be feasible to take every case to trial.

"The truth is, most cases can come to a good resolution, that the victims are happy with, without going to trial," she said. "When you talk to most victims in the case, it's typically their preference to have the case resolved, if it can be, in a plea agreement."

Turner said she finds domestic violence and sexual assault cases are among the most vital in the criminal justice system.

"There's certain people who become victimized who either can't or won't speak up for themselves," she said. "I think those cases are particularly important."

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